THE INDIFFERENCE OF PSYCHOANALYSIS TO PHILOSOPHICAL ONTOLOGIES

Because it is an antiphilosophy, psychoanalysis has, from its beginnings, remained indifferent or suspicious towards that most philosophical of themes: ontology. One can see this indifference operating at a number of levels. The practice of psychoanalysis has not necessitated that clinical psychoanalysts intervene directly in ontological questioning, whether implicitly or explicitly. Even in the most volatile moments of its struggles to sustain itself as a singular practice, psychoanalysis has remained relatively unmoved in the face of the counter-claims, concepts and criticisms coming from philosophy – and, a fortiori, from philosophical ontologies. Indeed, the reverse is more the case: it is philosophers who have felt themselves constrained to respond, with some urgency, to the challenges offered by psychoanalysis.